ROLE OF LIME

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 15, 11 September 1984, Page 13

ROLE OF LIME

The role of lime continues to confuse many farmers. This statement came from Ruakura soil scientist, Mr Doug Edmeades, at a field day held recently at the research centre. "The subject of lime has always attracted controversy. It seems that everyone — scientist, advisor and farmer — has their own opinion about what lime does." "It also seems that few people are prepared to address themselves to the facts." "As a result the whole topic of liming is clouded by misunderstanding, misinformed opinion, myth and mystery." "But if we look objectively at all the scientific information available, the 'mystery' of liming disappears." "The story is not a complex one. It is in fact quite simple." Dr Edmeades went on to say that that simplicity could be expressed with three basic statements which sum up the present state of lime knowledge. • Lime responses could be predicted from soil Ph tests. • In most dairying situations liming was economic where soil Ph was below 5.8. • The sfngle most important effect, and therefore the single most important reason for applying lime, was increased pasture production. "Lime should not be used in the expectation that fertiliser inputs can be reduced." "Nor should it be used in the belief that it will improve the feeding value of pasture," said Dr Edmeades. "It is important that farmers use lime for the right reasons. I believe that more lime should be used and once the new lime recommendation scheme is in place, more lime will be recommended," he concluded.